ASIAN AMERICAN HISTORY, HOLLYWOOD AND REPRESENTATION

In the USA, Asian Americans have long been considered a threat to a nation that promoted a "whites only" immigration policy. They were called a "yellow peril" uncleaned and unfit for citizenship in America. In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese exclusion act ‐ the only United States law to prevent immigration and naturalization based on Race- which restricted Chinese immigration for the next 60 years. The "Chinese must Go"movement was so strong that Chinese immigration to the United States declines from 39000 in 1885 to only 10 in 1887. In 1885, following the Chinese exclusion act, large numbers of young Japanese labourers and smaller numbers of Koreans and Indians began arriving on the West Coast, where they replaced the Chinese as cheap labour.

Growing anti-Japanese legislation and violence soon followed. In 1907 Japanese immigration was restricted by a "Gentlemen's agreement" between the United States and Japan. In the late 19th century white nativists spread xenophobic propaganda about Chinese uncleanness in San Francisco, this fuel the passage of the infamous Chinese exclusion act, the first law in the United States that banned immigration solely bases on race. In the early 20th century American officials in the Philippines, then a formal Colony of the US denigrated Filipinos for their supposedly "unclean and uncivilized bodies".

On February 19 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed executive order 9066 to imprison people under suspicion as enemies to inland internment camps. The vast majority of those imprisoned were of Japanese descent. In the 21st century, even the most "multicultural" North American cities are hotbeds for violent racism.

During the 2003 SARS outbreak, North America saw a rise of anti-Asian racism much like that today during the covid-19 outbreak. Donald Trump called the coronavirus the "China virus" and the "Kong flu ", along with many other remarks that made many Americans believe the Chinese were responsible for starting the virus.

Statistics from the Vancouver police department show a 717 per cent rise in hate crimes against East Asians from 2019 to 2020. A 67-year-old Asian man was punched in the face on the street in Chinatown and suffered swelling and bruising in March 2021. the attacker yelled racial slurs at him before striking him. In the Atlanta shooting, on March 16 2021, 8 people were killed and six of the victims were of Asian Descent. A 55-year-old woman was surrounded by a group of teenagers and punched in the back of her head in April 2020, the group called out various terms related to the origin of coronavirus.

In western media a big problem is a lack of minority representation in the media, it represents Asians horribly in various shows and movies, there have also been instances of typecasting, perpetuating harmful stereotypes and miscasting Asian Roles along with the lack of Representation overall.

The Dragon, lady China doll, the model minority are various examples of miscasting.

Now the discrimination does not just exist in history or Hollywood, but it extends beyond that. In American schools, east Asians are considered stereotypically "smart". This creates unfathomable, incomprehensible stigmas. It feeds to the model minority myth that downplays the severity of racism POC face.

It is time, that the past presents a new present and a diverse future. One mustn't let these ideologies succumb to their power. Speak up when you see wrong, strike up a conversation, do not be afraid to be wrong, admit your mistakes and correct yourself, educate others and strive for a better world.

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